A group of San Bernardino County public safety employees, including probation corrections officers and district attorney’s investigators, face a 14 percent cut in pay and benefits unless they agree to a previous proposal by the county.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2, with Brad Mitzelfelt and Neil Derry dissenting, to cut by 7 percent the salaries of probation corrections officers, district attorney’s investigators, coroner’s investigators and welfare fraud investigators.

The employees comprise the Specialized Peace Officer Unit of the San Bernardino County Safety Employee Benefit Association, or SEBA, the union representing the county’s law-enforcement employees.

Tuesday’s action also calls for the elimination of a 7 percent county pickup of employees’ share of retirement contributions, elimination of take-home vehicles, caps on holiday leave time and a reduction of salary step increases – annual merit raises – from 5 percent to 2.5 percent.

In addition, members of the bargaining unit would also see their flexible benefits plan disappear and be replaced with a nonflexible medical premium subsidy.

The 368-member unit has been in negotiations with the county since February. Members have rejected three proposals brought to them by their labor negotiators, the last being on June 30.

Tuesday’s action by the board is tentative until 5 p.m. Dec. 22. That’s when county Chief Executive Officer Greg Devereaux has given the unit to formally agree to the June 30 proposal by the appointed arbitrator. If the unit does not sign the agreement, Tuesday’s proposal, which is officially the county’s “last, best and final offer” to the unit before it went into arbitration, will be implemented.

“The county really didn’t have any choice here. The county has to move forward, otherwise there would be layoffs in public safety,” county spokesman David Wert said. “Someone has to make a decision and get things moving, and that’s what happened today.”

Members of the unit, mainly probation corrections officers, showed up at Tuesday’s board meeting to oppose the move.

Michael Eagleson, chief of labor negotiations for SEBA, pleaded with the board to allow negotiations to continue.

Douglas Feil, a probation supervisor at San Bernardino Juvenile Hall, said the 14 percent cut would have a “debilitating effect” on morale and hinder his department from being able to recruit and retain qualified officers.

Some said the 7 percent pay cut and stripping of take-home vehicles was a punitive move by the county and a means of leverage to try and force the unit into signing the June 30 agreement.

The Probation Department faces many challenges with the Public Safety Realignment Act, which shifts oversight of parolees from the state to county probation departments. The Probation Department plans to hire 100 new probation corrections officers to help monitor the parolees.

In addition, qualified probation corrections officer candidates must pass a stringent background check that includes a psychological evaluation. They must also have a college degree, Feil said.

He said Riverside, Los Angeles and Orange counties compete for the dwindling pool of qualified candidates.

“If you’re cutting pay by 14 percent, what’s the incentive for coming to work for us?” Feil said.

Joe Nelson is an award-winning investigative reporter who has worked for The Sun since November 1999. He started as a crime reporter and went on to cover a variety of beats including courts and the cities of Colton, Highland and Grand Terrace. He has covered San Bernardino County since 2009. Nelson is a graduate of California State University Fullerton. In 2014, he completed a fellowship at Loyola Law School's Journalist Law School program.